TWiki Formatted Search

Inline search feature allows flexible formatting of search result

The default output format of a %SEARCH{...}% is a table consisting of topic names and topic summaries. Use the format="..." parameter to customize the search result. The format parameter typically defines a bullet or a table row containing variables, such as %SEARCH{ "food" format="| $topic | $summary |" }%. See %SEARCH{...}% for other search parameters, such as separator="".

Topic title, in order of sequence defined by: Form field named "Title", topic preference setting named TITLE, topic name

$parent

Name of parent topic; empty if not set

$parent(20)

Name of parent topic, same hyphenation/shortening like $topic()

$text

Formatted topic text. In case of a multiple="on" search, it is the line found for each search hit.

$text(encode:type)

Same as above, but encoded in the specified type. Possible types are the same as in ENCODE. Though ENCODE can take the extra parameter, $text(encode:type) cannot. Example: $text(encode:html)

$locked

LOCKED flag (if any)

$date

Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 2018-03-19 - 14:52

$isodate

Time stamp of last topic update, e.g. 2018-03-19T14:52Z

$rev

Number of last topic revision, e.g. 4

$username

Login name of last topic update, e.g. jsmith

$wikiname

Wiki user name of last topic update, e.g. JohnSmith

$wikiusername

Wiki user name of last topic update, like Main.JohnSmith

$createdate

Time stamp of topic revision 1

$createusername

Login name of topic revision 1, e.g. jsmith

$createwikiname

Wiki user name of topic revision 1, e.g. JohnSmith

$createwikiusername

Wiki user name of topic revision 1, e.g. Main.JohnSmith

$summary

Topic summary, just the plain text, all TWiki variables, formatting and line breaks removed; up to 162 characters

$summary(50)

Topic summary, up to 50 characters shown

$summary(showvarnames)

Topic summary, with %ALLTWIKI{...}% variables shown as ALLTWIKI{...}

$summary(expandvar)

Topic summary, with %ALLTWIKI{...}% variables expanded

$summary(noheader)

Topic summary, with leading ---+ headers removedNote: The tokens can be combined, for example $summary(100, showvarnames, noheader)

$changes

Summary of changes between latest rev and previous rev

$changes(n)

Summary of changes between latest rev and rev n

$formname

The name of the form attached to the topic; empty if none

$formfield(name)

The field value of a form field; for example, $formfield(TopicClassification) would get expanded to PublicFAQ. This applies only to topics that have a TWikiForm

$formfield(name, encode:type)

Form field value, encoded in the specified type. Possible types are the same as in ENCODE: quote, moderate, safe, entity, html, url and csv. The encode:type parameter can be combined with other parameters described below, but it needs to be the last parameter. Example: $formfield(Description, 20, encode:html)

$formfield(name, 10)

Form field value, "- " hyphenated each 10 characters

$formfield(name, 20, -<br />)

Form field value, hyphenated each 20 characters with separator "-<br />"

$formfield(name, 30, ...)

Form field value, shortened to 30 characters with "..." indication

$query(query-syntax)

Access topic meta data using SQL-like QuerySearch syntax. Example: • $query(attachments.arraysize) returns the number of files attached to the current topic • $query(attachments[name~'*.gif'].size) returns an array with size of all .gif attachments, such as 848, 1425, 923• $query(parent.name) is equivalent to $parent

$query(query-syntax, quote:")

Strings in QuerySearch result are quoted with the specified quote. Useful to triple-quote strings for use in SpreadSheetPlugin's CALCULATE, such as $query(attachments.comment, quote:''') which returns a list of triple-quoted attachment comment strings -- the spreadhseet funcions will work properly even if comment strings contain commas and parenthesis

$query(query-syntax, encode:type)

QuerySearch result is encoded in the specified type. This is in parallel to $formfield(name, encode:type) mentioned above

$pattern(reg-exp)

A regular expression pattern to extract some text from a topic (does not search meta data; use $formfield instead). In case of a multiple="on" search, the pattern is applied to the line found in each search hit.• Specify a RegularExpression that covers the whole text (topic or line), which typically starts with .*, and must end in .*• Put text you want to keep in parenthesis, like $pattern(.*?(from here.*?to here).*)• Example: $pattern(.*?\*.*?Email\:\s*([^\n\r]+).*) extracts the e-mail address from a bullet of format * Email: ...• This example has non-greedy .*? patterns to scan for the first occurance of the Email bullet; use greedy .* patterns to scan for the last occurance • Limitation: Do not use .*) inside the pattern, e.g. $pattern(.*foo(.*)bar.*) does not work, but $pattern(.*foo(.*?)bar.*) does • Note: Make sure that the integrity of a web page is not compromised; for example, if you include an HTML table make sure to include everything including the table end tag

$pattern(reg-exp, encode:type)

A text extracted by reg-exp is encoded in the specified type. This is in parallel to $formfield(name, encode:type) mentioned above

$count(reg-exp)

Count of number of times a regular expression pattern appears in the text of a topic (does not search meta data). Follows guidelines for use and limitations outlined above under $pattern(reg-exp). Example: $count(.*?(---[+][+][+][+]) .*) counts the number of <H4> headers in a page.

$ntopics

Number of topics found in current web. This is the current topic count, not the total number of topics

$tntopics

The total number of topics matched

$nwebs

The number of webs searched

$nhits

Number of hits if multiple="on". Cumulative across all topics in current web. Identical to $ntopics unless multiple="on"

$n or $n()

New line. Use $n() if followed by alphanumeric character, e.g. write Foo$n()Bar instead of Foo$nBar

$nop or $nop()

Is a "no operation". This variable gets removed; useful for nested search

$quot or \"

Double quote (")

$aquot

Apostrophe quote (')

$percnt

Percent sign (%)

$dollar

Dollar sign ($)

$lt

Less than sign (<)

$gt

Greater than sign (>)

3. footer="..." parameter

Use the footer parameter to specify the footer of a search result. It should correspond to the format of the format parameter. This parameter is optional. Example: footer="| *Topic* | *Summary* |"

Results pagination

Evaluation order of variables

By default, variables embedded in the format parameter of %SEARCH{}% are evaluated once before the search. This is OK for variables that do not change, such as %SCRIPTURLPATH%. Variables that should be evaluated once per search hit must be escaped. For example, to escape a conditional:
%IF{ "..." then="..." else="..." }% write this:
format="$percntIF{ \"...\" then=\"...\" else=\"...\" }$percnt"

Everybody can edit any page, this is scary. Doesn't that lead to chaos? Answer...

Nested Search

Search can be nested. For example, search for some topics, then form a new search for each topic found in the first search. The idea is to build the nested search string using a formatted search in the first search.

Here is an example. Let's search for all topics that contain the word "culture" (first search), and let's find out where each topic found is linked from (second search).

Now let's nest the two. We need to escape the second search, e.g. the first search will build a valid second search string. Note that we escape the second search so that it does not get evaluated prematurely by the first search:

Note: Nested search can be slow, especially if you nest more then 3 times. Nesting is limited to 16 levels. For each new nesting level you need to "escape the escapes", e.g. write $dollarpercntSEARCH{ for level three, $dollardollarpercntSEARCH{ for level four, etc.

Search with conditional output

A regular expression search is flexible, but there are limitations. For example, you cannot show all topics that are up to exactly one week old, or create a report that shows all records with invalid form fields or fields within a certain range, etc. You need some additional logic to format output based on a condition:

Specify a search which returns more hits then you need

For each search hit apply a spreadsheet formula to determine if the hit is needed